Geography

Qatar occupies 11,437 square kilometers on a peninsula that extends
approximately 160 kilometers north into the Persian Gulf from the
Arabian Peninsula. Varying in width between fifty-five and ninety
kilometers, the land is mainly flat (the highest point is 103 meters)
and rocky. Notable features include coastal salt pans, elevated
limestone formations (the Dukhan anticline) along the west coast under
which lies the Dukhan oil field, and massive sand dunes surrounding
Khawr al Udayd, an inlet of the gulf in the southeast known to local
English speakers as the Inland Sea. Of the islands belonging to Qatar,
Halul is the most important. Lying about ninety kilometers east of Doha,
it serves as a storage area and loading terminal for oil from the
surrounding offshore fields. Hawar and the adjacent islands immediately
off the west coast are the subject of a territorial dispute between
Qatar and Bahrain.

The capital, Doha, is located on the central east coast on a sweeping
(if shallow) harbor. Other ports include Umm Said, Al Khawr, and Al
Wakrah. Only Doha and Umm Said are capable of handling commercial
shipping, although a large port and a terminal for loading natural gas
are planned at Ras Laffan, north of Al Khawr. Coral reefs and shallow
coastal waters make navigation difficult in areas where channels have
not been dredged.

Qatar shares its land border with the United Arab Emirates (UAE),
with which in 1993 it continued to have a dispute in the Khawr al Udayd
area. The boundary with Saudi Arabia was settled in 1965 but never
demarcated. Qatar's northwest coast is fewer than thirty kilometers from
Bahrain.

Doha is the capital of the country and the major administrative,
commercial, and population center. In 1993 it was linked to other towns
and development sites by a system of about 1,000 kilometers of paved
roads. Doha's international airport has an approximately 4,500-meter
main runway, capable of receiving all kinds of aircraft.

The long summer (June through September) is characterized by intense
heat and alternating dryness and humidity, with temperatures exceeding
55° C. Temperatures are moderate from November through May, although
winter temperatures may fall to 17° C, which is relatively cool for the
latitude. Rainfall is negligible, averaging 100 millimeters per year,
confined to the winter months, and falling in brief, sometimes heavy
storms that often flood the small ravines and the usually dry wadis.
Sudden, violent dust storms occasionally descend on the peninsula,
blotting out the sun, causing wind damage, and momentarily disrupting
transport and other services.

The scarcity of rainfall and the limited underground water, most of
which has such a high mineral content that it is unsuitable for drinking
or irrigation, restricted the population and the extent of agricultural
and industrial development the country could support until desalination
projects began. Although water continues to be provided from underground
sources, most is obtained by desalination of seawater.